The rules:
- Thank and link back to the person who tagged you.
- Tell us how you were introduced to Jane Austen and share one fun fact about your Janeite life (this fun fact can be anything from "I stayed up all night reading Emma" to "I visited Chawton and met Anna Chancellor.").
- Answer the tagger's questions.
- Write seven questions of your own.
- Tag as few as one or as many as seven other Janeites and let them know you've tagged them.
How I was introduced to Jane Austen:
I don't remember exactly when I heard about Jane Austen for the first time. I do know I watched Pride and Prejudice '95 on Dutch television when I was around 16 or so. I really loved it and we then also bought the VHS (!) of Sense and Sensibility '95. Sense and Sensibility was the first Austen I read, I read it for a book report for my English class in secondary school. It was also the first full-length novel I read in English! I remember having some nice discussions about the book with my English teacher and got a good grade ;-) I then tried to find all the other adaptations and slowly read the rest of Jane's works in the coming years.
Fun fact about my Janeite life:
I used to have a poster from Pride and Prejudice '05 which used to hang in a bus stop. You might imagine the size of it, it took up all the wall next to my bed! It was there for 2 years or so and then I wanted to hang something else there. I then put it on the door of the toilet, to the surprise of my housemates! (Imagine going into the toilet, turning on the light and then suddenly being confronted with a life size Lizzie and Darcy!)
Joanne's questions:
1. Which elder sister would you rather have--Jane or Elinor?
Difficult question, because I fancy I might be a bit like both Jane and Elinor myself. I think I'd choose Elinor though, because you could have a real helpful discussion with her, while Jane would just hug you and sigh at your problems.
2. Least favorite heroine?
Catherine Moreland from Northanger Abbey. Maybe because she's the youngest heroine and she also feels very teenage like and I'm 'already' 30, but I can't really identify with her.
3. Which friendship best describes you and your best friend? (i.e., mine would be Jane and Lizzie)
Maybe Lizzie and Charlotte Lucas. They are in some ways quite similar and their friendship is definitely one of equality, but they also have different opinions and interests.
4. Least favorite hero?
Edmund Bertram, because he's so clueless about Mary and Henry Crawford.
5. Would you rather visit Bath or Brighton?
Actually I visited both Bath and Brighton and they are both great places. Brighton has the decided advantage of being near the sea. But Bath is just so pretty and well-preserved, you really feel like you could be in the Regency era there. So I'd have to choose Bath I think.
Brighton seafront
The Royal Crescent in Bath
6. Would you rather have dinner with Mrs. Elton or Lady Catherine?
I think Mrs. Elton. I would just leave her to chatter away and pretend to listen ;-) But I would be rather afraid of Lady Catherine...
7. Do you know any English country dances? (because I'm jealous if you do)
No, I don't. We do have those yearly Regency balls in The Netherlands and I would really love to go to one sometime and they offer some introductory dance classes before this ball. Maybe next year?
My own questions:
1. About which secondary character in the Jane Austen novels would you love to read a full novel? (for example: Kitty Bennet, Sophia Wenthworth) How would the story go (or if you've read a good book/story about this, give a summary)
2. In which of the mansions/houses Jane Austen wrote about would you like to live?
3. What do you like best about the Regency era?
4. Have you ever been to a Regency/Austen themed event?
5. What is your least favourite Austen adaptation and how would you improve it?
6. If Lizzie for some reason could not end up with Darcy (sorry...) what other Austen hero do you think she could have married?
7. If you could have tea with Jane Austen, what would you most like to ask her?
I tag: everyone who wants to do this!
Oh, that poster! I would have LOVED to have one that big. I can only imagine how funny it was to have it hanging in the bathroom. That's exactly something I would've done.
ReplyDeleteI really like Edmund Bertram now, but I will admit that his cluelessness or blindness about the Crawfords' very much irked me at first. His life would have been much simpler had he just listened to Fanny.
I guess being in love makes people blind and I think Edmund is also the kind of person who likes to think the best of all people around him.
DeleteI think he is that kind of person, too. Which is what makes me like him in the end, but through most of the book, I more or less wanted to hit him with a frying pan. :-)
DeleteBecause I feel like it, and I've done this tag already, I'm going to answer your questions here :-)
ReplyDelete1. I think a novel about Henry Tilney's sister would be very interesting.
2. I would love to live at Hartfield as portrayed in the Gwyneth Paltrow version of Emma. I gushed and gushed about it here
3. I think I like the slow pace of life best about life in the Regency Era. Right now I'm feeling very pressured and harried by my extremely busy life, and I am longing for a day to just Be At Home and catch up on my cleaning, Christmas decorating, etc.
4. Nope. Some day I'd like to host some kind of fun Austen-themed tea party or something, though.
5. I guess probably the 2007 Persuasion, which needed less shaky-cam, less messing around with the order of events, and more Anthony Head. I would not change Captain Wentworth's boots, though.
6. I think Lizzie would have gotten along very well with Captain Benwick.
7. Ask her? I would probably just sit there and listen and smile a lot.
I would also love to read about Eleanor Tilney!
DeleteI wouldn't mind a few days in the Regency era at the moment either. Just a few hours to read with no distractions....
Fun meme! I might do this in the new year ;) Love your photos of Brighton and Bath btw :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, good memories from those trips!
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ReplyDeleteWell, going by the Sugar Free Dessert Challenge that is on these days, I am up for it and it is a great delight